PALATINE -- DP Fire United midfielder Jason Mejia stole the show Saturday afternoon with his powerful right leg and a performance that left coaches raving and players buzzing. Mejia scored two long distance goals in the Fire’s 3-1 victory over U14 Palatine Celtic Select.

With the first half coming to a close, Mejia got his first goal on a free kick from 40-yards out. Mejia sent the rocket into the top-right corner of the net and beat Palatine goalkeeper Artur Cholewa. The free kick was awarded because of a pushing foul.

“I have no idea how he does it, but he is a great player,” said Palatine forward James Hawran. “When he stepped up to the ball you could tell he had some kind of motive or drive behind him. That free kick he hit was just incredible.”

Mejia’s second score of the game was almost an exact replica of his first goal. Late in the second half, from 40 yards out, again, Mejia blasted it into the upper right corner past Cholewa to put the game out of reach.

“He is one of the best players that I have,” said DP Fire United coach Jorge Roche. “There is nothing else I can say, I’m so proud of him. He’s been learning so much, he’s got a big leg and he’s showing us he can do whatever he wants out there.”

Palatine coach Paul Clapson was impressed by Mejia’s two goals and didn’t have much of an answer on how they could have been prevented.

“That first one he hit, normally that distance out you don’t set up a wall really, you drop numbers in and you mark up,” Clapson said. “That’s tough for a keeper, you don’t think he’s going to shoot, so you’re probably in a position to come out and get a cross. But that was a great hit, you can’t take anything away from the guy, it was a great goal.

“Then the other one he hit was the same, hit it well, hit it sweet and got it on target.”

The Celtics started the game on the attack and scored the first goal of the game in the 10th minute.

Forward Josh Bennett raced down the left sideline on a fast break and centered the ball to his running mate Hawran, who shot the ball into the right side of the net past goalkeeper Edin Peskovic.

“I saw Josh running on the side, and usually he’s a player that likes to score,” Hawran said. “I thought he was going to go in, but I was like, ‘Hey, I’ll take a risk.’ So I went in between the two defenders, and I found myself in the right place at the right time. We’ve been working and training on redirecting. I redirected it, and it went in.”

The Celtics and Fire went into halftime tied 1-1 following Mejia’s first goal of the day. The Fire broke the tie in the second half when forward Branny Daniel got possession of the ball in the box, turned, fired and scored. Cholewa’s line of sight was blocked, causing him to react late to the shot.

“I think what ended up happening was we won possession, we gave it away right away and we were not prepared,” Clapson said. “The backline mentality was probably, ‘Okay, the ball’s going out, oh wait, no it’s not.’

“We’re all looking at the ball, we’re not focusing on the trailer who runs in behind, and again it was a heck of a finish. But it’s something at this age we need to focus on just being a little bit more aware of what’s going on around us.”

Once the Celtics scored their first goal they appeared to take their foot off the gas pedal and looked complacent.

“I think at 1-0 we stopped and that was something we spoke about at halftime, was’ I can tell right now unless you guys get another one or two we’re going to have an issue,’” Clapson said. “For the first 20 minutes or so we were in the second half, then all of a sudden we get counterattacked and here we are trying to battle.”

While the Celtics only put one in the net, they had plenty of opportunities throughout the match.

The Celtics’ Bennett and Hawran made another strong connection in the second half, but Hawran couldn’t convert this time.

“The guy (Bennett) is fast, I can work with him really well,” Hawran said of the duo’s chemistry. “We’ve been playing for years; we have a connection on and off the field, so when you have a connection like that it really makes the game a lot more fun and a lot more interesting.

“Sometimes we miscommunicate, we’re two different players, but when you have that chemistry it’s really something magical and something great can happen.”

Off the bench for the Celtics, Patrick Rajchel provided a spark and took a number of shots that were near-misses.

Defensively, Clapson was thrilled with the effort he got from defender Connor Aikman on the back end.

“There’s always guys on teams where they don’t necessarily stand out but they always do their jobs,” Clapson said. “My biggest one today was Connor, he’s just very, very consistent. He’s a smaller guy, going up against guys who were twice his size at times today, and he reads the game so well.

“I didn’t even get a chance to say well done to him today when he left, he’s just that kind of kid that puts his head down and always shows up.”